Loosing sleep over which gun to mount on your PZ4? K&J Magnetics to the rescue!

Hi Kids,  Here's one of the tanks I've been pretending to work on lately.  I think I primered it about 2 years ago.  Yeah, I must be in a rush!  It's a 1:60 West Wind Panzer 4 which can be made as a F1, F2, or early G variant.  Naturally, the Chuckster can't be bothered to actually make a firm decision.  We play a lot of early war around here, so the stub barrel would be good.  But there's also that June 6th D-Day Gameapalooza coming up, (Disposable Heroes of course!) and those longer guns would no doubt come in handy when you're trying to stem the beachheads.  What to do, what to do.....???

 Here we have a work-in-progress shot of the partially painted tank with the three different guns from which to choose.  All metal all the time!  And if you're an Old Glory Army member this is ~US$20!

Order some magnets!  That's what you do! Partially submerged in a bath of glue is a K&J magnet towards the back of the hollow turret.  I drilled out the backs of the guns and glued in some piano wire, or any other wire that works with magnets.  At first I was afraid that the force would not be strong enough and the barrels would droop, but no fear there.  Even the long barrel has no problem.

 

Meanwhile, the Basement has revealed some more items from a bygone era, some Easter Island head statues (called "Moi" I believe)!  I've been looking for these things for quite awhile, and am thrilled the terrain for KneeCap Island is at least getting closer to the workbench. Armorcast makes some great stuff!  I'm thinking about getting more of their craters, too.

Catawba Gamers Action @ Parker, Banner, Kent & Wayne Store

 Hi Kids, Last Saturday was the monthly historical gameday for the Catawba Gamers group, this time Brian brought out his 1:72 Napoleonics for some 200 year old replays!  The Frogs are on the left, all Imperial Guard (!), the good guys (Russians) were on the right.  From that unbiased remark I'm sure you all know which side I was on! To win the Frogs had to capture the hill under the rules, while the Pre-Commies had to capture the bridge near the table edge. Rules: Black Powder.

 A close up of the Frog starting positions. The Young Guard in the foreground was rated as inexperienced.

 The Good Guys!  My Russians are on the left, Patrick's are on the right.

 As soon as the dice allow, the Prussians enter from the south edge.  Gary rolled on at the first opportunity, making a huge difference in the game! "Old Forwards" lived up to the name!

 The Russians advance towards the town while the Frog Cavalry climbs the hill, after fighting off two units of Russian Dragoons.

 In a brief interlude, I sneak over to the other tables and spot an Early War FOW game, using those massive T-35's!

 And massive numbers of T-26's too!  The best of both worlds!  There was also a game of "Song of Drums and Shakos" going on, and a few 40k'ers!  And about 30 Magic gamers.  WoooooHoooooo!

 Meanwhile, the action is getting tense! The Frogs have taken the hill, and the Russian main force has been encircled from that flank!  It's temporary, as the Russians detach some units and shoot the Frog cav down. In the distance the Prussian threat draws near!

 After a double blunder command roll, two Russian units fall back a full move! the Frog Old Guard closes in!  Skirmishers out!

 The Prussians swing up from the south at full speed!

 Prussian Cav take the bridge!  The Old Guard arty takes an interest, but its too little too late! The Russian side wins big!

 The after dinner game was the best rules ever written, God's Chosen Ruleset: "Disposable Heroes" in 15mm!  Yes, we all know its not the One True Scale, but ya can't have everything!  A german delaying action in the hedgerows of Normandy.  About 4 squads of US infantry try to push through 2 squads of Huns.  Naturally, the Huns had some machine guns and suitcases full of ammo!

The US players all swarm over the wide open spaces on one side of the map, trying to stay in cover but moving forward as fast as their little 15mm legs can carry them!  Although both sides lost about the same (12 guys) the US players managed to carry the day, the Huns are just too thin and the board too large for them to swing other defenders to the decisive point!

A great day was had by all!  The Catawba Gamers meet every third Saturday of the month at the "Parker, Banner, Kent & Wayne" store in Cornelius NC, and post on their yahoogroup what games will be set up. More games, more gamers, more better! So why aren't the rest of you kids turning up?

Barbarosa!!!!! No, not the Willie Nelson movie. Although its worth seeing.

Hi Kids, Around here we've been talking about Barbarosa for the past couple years. I'm intending to build some forces for 25mm Disposable Heroes games, and some 15mm stuff for Flames of War too.  If it's good enough for one scale, its good enough for two!  I decided to go whole hog and get some big honkin' units for the smaller scale, especially when I discovered The Warstore carries Zvezda kits! These BT-5's were only about $3.60 each!  Only about 5 parts so they go together in a freakin' snap! I didn't bother checking the unit sizes in FOW Barbarosa, so instead of maxing out at 16 tanks I only ordered 15.  Oh well.  Guess I'll be ordering at least two more, one to be #16 and another to be the HQ tank.

 Here we have a shot of the first batch of BT-5's!  Although Commie tanks tend to be green, I'm a sucker for camo.  And in this scale it's a snap!  I'm undecided whether I should paint the tanks a steel or grey color.  Usually I do but that's a lot of work.

With this many tanks in one unit I decided to at least make an attempt to avoid confusion and number the damn things.  I ordered some Soviet AFV numbers from I-94 Enterprizes. For $3 you can get two sheets loaded with numbers. I think they look pretty good! Highly recommended!  I only had one misbehave, flip over and become unusable.  In the future, if I ever build another BT-5 unit, (unlikely since they are about 1000 points for this many) I will put the decal on the flat part of the turret side. And these kits have only been lurking in the Basement for about a month or two!

So what does everybody think?  Should I paint the tracks or leave them black?

Company B 1:56 T-28

Hi Kids,  And the Chuckster's painting again!  Who would believe it?  Here's a shot of my recently painted Russian T-28 (the tank, not the plane) from Company B in 1/56.  I've never been a huge fan of KV-1 Green so I thought I'd dress this one up with a little camo.  After building it I found out there was a version with one of the MG turrets upgraded to a 45mm AT gun!  If I had know that I probably would have fitted the bigger gun, cause more firepower is usually a good thing.  I'm kinda disappointed that the picture came out so lousy, I can't get the entire vehicle into focus?  How pathetic is that? Gonna have to play with the depth of field selection again....

Also in the month of January I painted up two Tau Stealth suits (the old metal ones) in my Mars camo pattern.  Now they have joined up with the Tau forces hanging out on the shelves with all the other 40K and Fantasy stuff.  One of these days I'm going to find a Sci-Fi ruleset and start using all that stuff again.

I'm thinking of making a Chieftain Tank t shirt.  I think this shot would look good on the back.  What's everyone think? Gotta dig that 120mm rifled gun!

 And here's a picture of one of my favorite planes, the Curtiss AT-9 (or maybe its the AT-9A?)  I just think it's a neat little plane.  A trainer for high performance twins like the P-38 or B-26.  Some pilots joked that it was so difficult to fly that the P-38 should've been a trainer for the AT-9!

 And while we're on the subject of pictures, here's one of Sophia in the movie "Boy on a Dolphin."  All I can tell you is until you've seen that movie you just haven't lived.  Netflix is your friend.

Company B T26 tank for Disposable Heroes and Bolt Action

Thanks to Chuuckaroobob, Who is a River to His People, I now have a 1/56th scale T26 Soviet light tank from Company B. I had talked about getting one for awhile but haven't so Chuckaroo gifted me one for my birthday. I have wanted a T26 to back up my Warlord era Chinese army but it has many more uses in different war gaming eras. They were fielded during the Spanish Civil War, early war on the WWII Eastern front and by the Chinese against each other and then the Japanese.

Out of the box the Company B kit had very few flaws and little flash.

The second chance at magnetizing the turret. The first try I used too small of magnets but the second go round worked much better.

The most glaring problem was a bent resin gun tube. In the process of straightening the tube I broke it off. i had suspected this to happen so I replaced it with a piece of brass rod.

The only real detail missing was at he back of the tank on the exhaust. An air bubble had removed the end of the muffler.

I drilled it out a bit and then replaced it with some green stuff and a piece 1.6mm styrene rod. One it is painted nobody will be able to tell it is a repair.

The finished T26 ready for paint.

The base coated T26, next to a Bolt Action Soviet light machine gunner. I plan to add some more highlights but no unit ID marks to get the most playability out of the model across several different armies.

The challenge has already been issued to dispute Chuckaroobo's M3 Stuart title as the king of the battlefield from an earlier game against my Chinese. That game all I had was a Japanese Ha -Go tank that couldn't penetrate the armor of the M3 Stuart that will be different next time.

Combat Crusher tanks for Bolt Action and Disposable Heroes

I started on the Combat crusher tanks I picked up awhile back. I started by sanding them down to get the decals off. I didn't think about the camera until I had finished the Sherman tank

Here is the American Sherman in a good table quality paint job. I will probably go back and hit some details and clean up the road wheels a bit but it is good enough to hit a table. Beside it is a 28mm Bolt Action Soviet Rifleman to show scale. Good enough for me.

The PAnzer IV primed up

Base coat of Luftwaffe uniform WWII

Dry brush of Vallejo Sombre Grey.  It is a little clean and can use some more details but good enough for the table. Another Bolt Action 28mm Soviet Rifleman beside it for scale. Close enough for me, especially if it is the only tank on my side of the table.

The two Combat Crusher tanks painted up. I will put a few more details and a wash or two before I call them finished.

ColKG

Cheap tanks for Bolt Action 28mm WWII gaming

After reading an an article on the Santa Cruz Warhammer/Historical blog about cheap tank models to use for Bolt Action WWII gaming in 28mm I went looking for some of the combat crusher models online. I found plenty but with shipping they were not as much of a deal. then a buddy of mine called and said he had found them at Wal-Mart. A quick trip to the local Wally world and I had one of each for a US$9.98 per.

German Panzer IV

American Sherman

I built both tanks to make sure all the parts were there but will take them back apart to paint them. They are not the most detailed kits but they are good enough to play a game with and the price point is hard to beat. The Panzer IV will back up my Italian Paratroopers until I get the 13th Handschar Project off of the ground. The Sherman will support my US Marines against my Japanese force and their two type 97 Chi-hi's. Now I just have to sand them down a bit to get rid of the writing and finish painting them.

ColKG

New 13th SS Handschar from Brigade games

I have wanted to build a 13th SS Handschar force for a while. A while back I picked up a bunch of the Handschar heads from Bolt Action and planned to convert a platoon for Disposable Heroes.

So far this is the total of my force, one MG 42 heavy machine gun team. I used the Handschar heads on a Bolt Action German hmg team. I have picked up some other German models but haven't converted any of them up yet.

The big news is that Brigade Games has released two packs of 13th SS Handschar troops in their Ends of the Earth miniature line. The first pack German 13th Mountain Division-Handschar has two models with MP-40s, one model with a GEW-43 semi auto rifle and a two man machine gun team one with a Kar98k and a MG-34.

The second pack is German 13th Mountain Division-Handschar II . This is the squad builder pack that has five models equipped with Kar98k rifles.

Combining the packs should give you a good squad so a couple of both packs will give a good start to the platoon. To be accurate I will probably need to get a pack or two of regular SS Germans for the ethnic German officers and NCOs. One thing I want to add to the army but that may be ahistorical, is a squad of Handschar armed with MP43/StG44 assault rifles. I had an argument with a rivet counter that said there was no way the 13th Handschar on anti partisan duties would have been issued Mp43s and that I just wanted the Mp43s for a gaming firepower advantage. My counter was that the MP-43s were being issued from early 1943 and thousands of them were floating around the Eastern front although my best argument was that a bunch of Fez wearing guys with Stg 44s would just be too cool, didn't compute to him.

ColKG

Progress on Chinese "Big Sword" platoon for Warlord era gaming

I have been collecting several different platoons of Chinese forces for Pulp and Interwar gaming. I last worked on  this Big Sword Platoon back in 2011. I planned to have them finished back then but it didn't work out. After talking to Chuckaroo last week about some pulp gaming I have started back on the platoon. The Platoon is organized for the Big Sword platoon from Iron Ivans Pacific supplement for Disposable Heroes. It has a command section and three fifteen man platoons. Each platoon has a light machine gun, two rifles, three sub machine guns and nine with Mauser Broom handle pistols and swords. They have allot of firepower but the majority is short ranged and they usually have to run through a bunch of bullets to put it to good use.

The majority of the models are Copplestone Dare to Die assault troops, with some Pulp Miniatures Big Sword models with rifles, a few Renegade German late War troops with Lewis guns and a Reaper Chronoscope Pilot model I want to have painted in case the I-16 attack plane gets shot down.

I want to get them to a basic table top paint scheme so I can use them in the next game. I finished up the flesh on them and need to go over the wood, webbing, and metal. They will still need a good bit more work after that but painted enough for the table.

ColKG

Zentraedi Scout Pod & Pz 2

Hi Kids,  Well, after not painting a damn thing for the past six months or so, I finally got off my butt and finished a few things!  Some time last year I dug up this Zentraedi Scout Pod, and figured 20 years of aging is enough, time to get some paint on that bad boy!  And it looks like my timing is just about right, rumor has it that the first wave of the new Robotech game are shipping to the kickstarter crowd.  For the next week or two this one pod army is probably the biggest army around here.  I don't remember who manufactured these things 20+ years ago, maybe Dark Horse?

 For no reason in particular I decided against the standard white and light blue/gray scheme and went with my Tau Mars camo scheme.  My Southern Heavy Gear sport this same look.  I mounted it on a heavy washer since I was afraid it would be top heavy without it.  It's about 3 & 1/3 inches tall, all lead. Once the kickstarter stuff is available I'll probably buy a fistful more Zentraedi.

 Also finished was this 1/56 Pz 2, although its only about 14 months old.  Picked it up from Brigade Games at Historicon 2013, although I'm not 100% sure I believe its a JTFM. I decided not to paint my Hun armor grey, so found some color pictures and picked out a nifty scheme.   My Army Stain is going bad so I went back to the basics and used Magic Sauce for the wash.  My early war Huns are coming along rather slowly, but you could say that about all my projects.

I also managed to flock the two 25mm Tiger Miniatures Spanish-American War Rough Riders I painted back in Feb or so.  You've all seen pictures of similar stuff here before, so no pic required.  That brings my total for painting to about 18 for the year.  Yikes!  Usually I'm up to around 100-500  by now!  Its been a crappy year for painting around here.  Started working on 14 Khemru slingers for Wargods of Aeygptus too.   Lets see how long it takes to get them finished.

My dog Molly relaxing next to one of the many bookcases in the homestead.  I took this picture to see if my camera was working, and it would have been a shame to delete it!  The shutter was about 1 full second, it was kinda dark!  I'm surprised it worked at all.  But then again that camera is a lot smarter than me.

Into the Bocage with the Catawba Gamers

Several of the BOHM regulars made the trip to Parker Banner Kent and Wayne for the January Catawba Gamers Game day. The game was Disposable Heroes set in WWII. The scenario was a German counter attack against the American in the Bocage country after the D-Day landings.

The scenario had the Germans attacking. With their objective to exit armored vehicle off the right board edge and capture the hill on the lower right. The American had to stop the Germans. The game was a combination of two Skirmish elite scenarios so more people could play. The green hedges were the Bocage and blocked line of sight, To see through a model had to have its base touching the hedge.

A view of the German Infantry force. Two rifle squads, a command section, an 81mm mortar and a heavy mount MG-42.

Some of the American forces defending the hill against the Germans.

The German armor ready for a break through.

Americans defending the road.

First moves the Germans move up their support weapons. An 81mm Mortar and a 75mm infantry support gun that we received as a Reinforcement.

The German armor driving down the road.

Until fired on bu a hidden American Hmg in the farmhouse.

German Infantry moving up.

American Infantry pinned down in the Hedge grove.

German Infantry move forward to clear out a farmhouse.

American rifle squad takes cover behind a stone wall.

German fire tells and the squad at the hedge grove falls back.

The German armor still stopped, trading fire with the American at gun.

American bazooka team in a jeep arrives as reinforcements.

The layered American defence holding the German armor at bay.

An American Sherman tank arrives as reinforcements and concentrates on slowing down the German Infantry.

The short squad returns to the hedge grove as the Germans advance in cover.

Another American Sherman arrives as reinforcements.

Then it brews up a German tank.

The German mounted infantry close on the American squad at the stone wall.

The Americans fall back but the German half track is destroyed.

The lone trooper keeps up his fire with his trusty BAR.

another American squad sneaks up on a German armored car.

As the game winds down the lone trooper finally falls.

I enjoyed the game. I like the Skirmish elite scenario books but some of their maps leave allot of open space on the table and a unit trying to cross a large area of open ground under heavy machine gun fire in Disposable Heroes is next to impossible. In hindsight I should have had the 81mm mortar shooting smoke rounds instead of trying to hit a unit. I could have smoked the short squad or the hill and just ran the German Infantry up the board edge.
The Armor that had to exit the board stopped on the road after getting into range of the Americans. Once again in hindsight, we might have done better if one of the German tanks would have come and moved down the middle of the board. Forcing the American to have to maneuver their antitank assets around and preventing them from concentrating them on the end with the German armor.
The American worked together and deserve the win, the lack of communication on the German side was over only problem.
I look forward to the next time I can get some Disposable Heroes with the Catawba lads.

ColKG